We have three or four letters to the editor a day from people complaining that Wal-Mart greeters said, "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Xmas" to them. They make it sound like the old guy at the door slapped them.

Good to hear that this whole thing was BS but some Christian nut jobs (not that Christians are nut jobs, but these nut jobs happen to be Christians) were taking it pretty seriously. There was alot of news time dedicated to the "changed" lyrics last week.

As far as Walmart and other businesses saying "happy holidays," that is just smart business. Many of there patrons are not Christians or do not celebrate Christmas.

If anything is taking the "Christ" out of Christmas it is all the materialistic "gift" shit that our society has become so enveloped with. I take part but sometimes I just look around and I am like, WTF?

Just because it is a cultural tradition does not mean it should be considered part of Christianity. Didn't something important happen on that date a few thousand years ago other than giving each other DVD players and reindeer flying around? I can't quite remember anymore.

Dorso wrote:That reminds me that I still have to decorate my Festivus pole.

I thought the pole was to be un-adorned? Guess I need to look up the official Festivus traditions. I do plan on starting a new tradition in honor of Festivus by doing feats of strength, i.e., some type of grueling workout, on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Seriously.

I think this is a good T-man thing to do regardless of your religious beliefs. I'll skip the airing of grievances, though.

As somewhat of an agnostic, I have no problems with Christmas. I consider Jesus Christ an influential philospher and have no problem celebrating his birthday with presents and spending time with my family.

I don't care that Denver County spends money to put lights on the City and County Building - it looks cool. And I have no objection at all to Christmas trees. The tree actually came from a pagan tradition that celebrated the Winter Solstice.

If I were a retailer I would use the "Happy Holidays" slogan for a good portion of my promo material. Not only is it inclusive of more consumers, but you can also leave a "Happy Holidays" display up 'till New Years without looking lazy, whereas the Christmas displays really should be down by around 27th or so.

This makes it easier to focus on getting people's money in the post Christmas shoppy frenzy.

It does greatly amuse me though that people are protesting places like Walmart using "Happy Holidays" over "Merry Christmas" when the Christmas slogan is perpetuating the link between consumerism and the holiday.

I would think that a purist christian would want to differentiate between the religious holiday and the cultural celebration of materialism, but that's just me.